P.P. & S. PAMUR Kombinasi Tjimande
Tari Kolot Kebon Djeroek Hilir Banten Indonesia
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P.P. & S. PAMUR Kombinasi Tjimande Tari Kolot Kebon Djeroek Hilir Banten Indonesia |
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On a regular basis, Guru Besar/ Pendekar Ph.J.C Tönjes Glr. Sanjoto is guiding his students in Indonesia. He shows them all the places that are important for the expansion of Pencak Silat in general and specifically the steams Tjimande Tari Kolot from Banten (West-Java) and PAMUR Madura (East-Java. During this trip teachers and graves of founders are visited. |
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© P.P.& S. PAMUR
Kombinasi Tjimande Tari Kolot Kebon Djeroek Hilir Banten Indonesia, 2008 |
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Travel Report Indonesia 2006 The first week was dedicated to the Sundanese culture, from which the Tjimande Tari Kolot originates. The second week, we mainly paid attention to the cultural curiosities in Central Java. In the third week, we gave several PAMUR demonstrations and our focus was on East Java. In the final week there was time for some socialising: the visiting of old friends and acquaintances in Jakarta and making new friends.
Another part of the group accompanies Neeltje when she visits her Indonesian friend Yesi, who lives in Jakarta. Waryono, who is Yesi’s husband, is also present. They go shopping and meet Raden Ajeng Ambar, Taty Bovenlander’s cousin (Taty is Eric Bovenlander’s wife. For more information about Eric, who is an expert on Sundanese culture, you can check this website. Tonight, Paatje likes to go out for dinner. However, the hotel where we sleep, called the LPMP, takes care of the food during the entire day. When Gijs tells the hotel personnel that they don’t have to cook, he builds the following sentence: “Kami mau makan keluar.” (We want to go out for dinner). In the mean time, he sees the buffet is already prepared. The cook looks disappointed. So, Gijs decides to change his mind:”Ok, sekarang kami makan di sini” (now we eat here). We will go out for diner tomorrow. The rest of the day, we train a little and we meet Janti, Dewi’s sister. She joined Dewi in the international team Pencak Silat. Meanwhile, she’s also married like her sister. Furthermore, Tulus’ brother pays a visit. Tulus is the trainer of the PAMUR. He’s also a choreographer of the Indonesian international PERSILAT team and he’s won so many Pencak Silat events that he is no longer allowed to join any competition. By the way, Tulus’ brother also makes a great impression, especially upon the French. He shows his talents for massage and in the mean time releases Julien from his knee problems.
This is the day of the training. In the morning, Tulus tired us out in a
small room in one of the buildings of the LPMP.
An early rise again. However, the nasi is already prepared at seven o’clock. After breakfast and some hasty packing, the bus to Bogor leaves at 9.09 o’clock precise. We are driven by two drivers, Bambang and Soerjadi, in a 24-seat ‘Blue Bird’ bus with air conditioning. One hour later, we arrive at Bogor. Map reading does seem to be easy for the drivers, so after a small d-tour we arrive at the house of Ibu Tien Rostini Asikin. She’s the pendekar of the Pejajaran style. People call her the ‘mother of the Sundanese culture’. As the first guests of Eric Bovenlander, our reception was very warm (For more information about Eric, who is an expert on Sundanese culture, you can check this website. For us, it’s of course quite an honour to be part of it. The quietness and fresh air in Bogor are a relief compared to Jakarta. After a well cared-for lunch - Ibu Asikin has a good cook – we take our bus to Kebun Raya: the botanic gardens. These gardens are situated in the city centre and cover 80 hectares. The park contains many high and impressive trees, beautiful water lilies and deer. The presidential palace is situated in one corner of the gardens. This palace was the summer residence of the former president Soekarno en before that, it was the residence of the governor-general Van Starckenborg-Stachouwer in the colonial age. In the park, we visit the grave king Eyang Jepra of West-Java, who ruled around 1600. His consort Ibu Ratu and his maid of honour are buried in the park. The king was chosen by the people, because he was a man of great esteem, who was powerful and widely respected by nature. This reign was not inheritable. As this king was also occupied with defending his kingdom while using martial arts, he has been an important figure in the development of Pencak Silat. After the outing, there’s a practice for Wednesday night’s presentation. At night in Jakarta, we visit a benefit night for the victims of the tsunami in South-West Java. The meeting is kept in a nice hotel at the large circular road Jalan Sudirman. After a jaipong demonstration, the donation begins. We offer 100 euro from the club reserve. Stephen hands over the money and bapak Tönjes gives a speech. The actual amount of donated money is constantly presented on a screen with the addition: ‘+ 100 euro’. Afterwards, a wayang golek puppet play is presented. It’s a long night and we don’t reach our beds before one o’clock.
After saying goodbye to Ibu Asikin, we leave for Bandung at 10.30 the next day. She invites us to give another presentation at her book presentation on the 11th of August. As we are starting out journey around Java, we can’t promise anything. We’ve had a few fantastic days behind us, also with thanks to Eric Bovenlander of course.
After a tasteful and hot breakfast we prepare ourselves for our trip to the Borobudur. As Alex was suffering from diarrhoea the entire night, we had to call a doctor. He prescribed him several types of medication. We arrive at the Borobudur at 12.15 o’clock. It appears to be much quieter than we eventually thought it would be. Erna explains us the history of the Borobudur. It is part of the Buddhist culture and was built in the 8th century A.D. It’s also regarded as one of the seven world wonders. The Buddhism distinguishes three stages: the stage of desire, the stage of shape, and the stage of shapelessness. Each gallery is decorated with sculptures up the highest terrace, where the atmosphere of shapelessness prevails. We leave for Bantul at half pas two, after a number of pictures have been taken. Bantul is one of the areas badly hit by the earthquake in May last. En route, we stop at a nice restaurant for a late lunch. The restaurant is divided in separated cottages, situated on an artificially created lake.
Tuesday 08-01-2006 In the morning, we visit the family of our driver Suryadi in Magelang. He’s happy because he can take us to his village. When we arrive at his village, we are treated to fresh kelapa muda, ice cream, biscuits, etc. The people are very friendly In the afternoon, there’s time to visit the city centre, go shopping in a mall and by souvenirs in a batik shop. We also buy DVDs for Bantul, because the children told us they miss the Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob cartoons. We hand over the DVDs to Erna, after she ensures us there’s TV and a DVD-player in the village. |
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We stay at the Mendut Hotel in Yogyakarta. Here we stuff for the journey; at least, that is what I do. At 8 o’clock in the morning we leave the hotel. Half of the group is still a little ill. With good courage we travel. The journey is nice and long. We are chilling in the bus. Literally, as it is freezing in the bus. The drivers are really speeding, since we were lost once. We arrive at exactly ten to five. Quickly, we buy flowers for the late bapak Soekarno. Because there’s no place to park close to the grave, we travel by bechak. This is quite an effort: they stand around us arguing who will take us. Fortunately, we’re just in time. After taking a lot of pictures and its surrounding, we reach the grave. Here, we’ve some praying.
Paatje’s glad we’ve made it. President Soekarno was like a second father to him. Paatje fought for the merah-putih, and therefore Bung Soekarno is a great example for him. He was the first president who tried to achieve liberation from the Dutch colonisation and succeeded. Hence, he’s regarded as the father of the people. Paatje has met the president once. He sat beside him and had to opportunity to talk to him. The president asked him why Paatje did not leave for the Netherlands. Paatje said that there would be nothing for him in the Netherlands. It’s tragic for Paatje that he was forced to go to the Netherlands, put under pressure by family. It’s still hard for him to live in a country that colonised his. Paatje told us this story on the way from and towards the grave. As we arrive at the bechaks to return to our bus, it appears the bechak of Remco and me has disappeared. We just want to start walking, when we suddenly hear a shout: hey, hey mister! Our ride has arrived.
When we
finally return to our bus, we’re at the beginning of another long trip to
Surabaya. At 22.00 o’clock we arrive. Everyone is really tired, but we
haven’t had dinner yet. Across the street of our luxurious hotel Weta is a
street restaurant. There we eat a little and afterwards: We sleep!
Madura However, bapak Parso from Surabaya ensures us that it is safe. Even more: we must go. Because his father in-law, who currently is very ill, is said to be sitting straight in his bed to welcome us. Parso arranges a guide, who will join us. It’s his brother Harry, who looks according to Paatje quite similar to a one of his former students: Harry Bosstraten. After twenty minutes on a fairy, we are welcomed by the dry heat of Madura. Our hotel ‘New Ramayana’ is quite okay. It looks a little like a bungalow park. After refreshing ourselves, it is time to visit guru besar Hasan Habudin, founder of the PAMUR. He’s visibly happy to meet us. Saturday 08-05-2006 The next day, there’s time to prepare tonight’s demonstration properly. Everybody is glad that we can train again. In the afternoon, one can rest or flirt with the local barmaid. Especially Remco appears to be very skilful. At night, finally it is time for the demonstration. We’ve been brought to a small village just outside Pamekasan. In the village, a party has been organised to start the festivities around the Indonesian independence at August 17. First, we are treated to a demonstration of the local PAMUR club. Fortunately, the stage is just suited to handle the violence of their large group.
Thereafter, it is time for a ritual dance of the tiger: two men, who dance
and move like a tiger in a large tiger-suit. It is also possible to give a
donation by putting some money in the lion’s jaws. Especially Anthony is praised for his firm solo (that he had learned only a day before). Next, of course there’s food and finally another dance of the lion. Sunday 08-06-2006 The next day we had the opportunity to say goodbye to bapak Hasan Habudin. He wished all of us the very best. To us, it felt like a final goodbye. And unfortunately it appeared to be correct. On September 28 2006, guru besar/ pendekar R. Hasan Habudin died. We are grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to be in his presence and we wish his family lots of strength to cope with this great loss. Not just this loss, but also the loss of the oldest son of the family, Idjon, member of the dewan Pendekar PAMUR. We didn’t expect to it would be the last time that we have seen him. He died even before his father, in the beginning of September. Back at the hotel, we were supposed to get new suits for demonstrations. However, it turned out that there were some errors in the sizes. It takes half a day to make the corrections. With the suit problem unsolved, we leave for Probolinggo, the residence of Paatje's family.
After quite a search, we arrive at night. Because the flooded rice-fields (sawas)
are nowadays covered with houses, Paatje no longer recognises the way.
Fortunately, we do find it. As expected, the pisang goreng was already
waiting for us. It’s like coming home. Soeparni, host and widower of
Paatje’s cousin pulls us in while shaking our hands. Poerwono, his pleasant
son is also present. That night is spent on the veranda, while having long
conversations.
In front of the house is a kindergarten. We take pictures of ourselves with the children of the kindergarten. Then we go back to Soeparni’s house for a breakfast with nasi. After that we immediately take the bus to pick up bapak Parso in the neighbouring place Bentar. He arranged that we would go up and down Banyuwangi today. As he was in the neighbourhood, he would join us. During the last trip, we also went to Banyuwangi and it turned out to be a madhouse. Would it be the same this time? The trip to Banyuwangi takes at least five hours. Including a dinner break, it becomes even longer. Later, we would regret this break, as we are fully stuffed, moreover because we’ve already eaten quite a lot in Probolinggo. Once we arrived in Banyuwangi, it appears to be just the same as last time. We’re taken to the guru’s house. In the house, a buffet with several kinds of fish is prepared. But we can’t eat another thing! It’s a real shame, because it’s the best food of the journey and we’re not hungry. Last time, we were welcomed with a large banner. We thought it could not be exceeded, but we were wrong. A new banner has been made, and there’s a real stage, just like on Madura. Unfortunately, there aren’t any ropes to stabilise it. As Remco is determined to go through the stage, we swish from left to right and the splinters fly around. Fortunately, everyone’s saved, the children who were hiding underneath the stage included. It’s not the best demo we’ve given so far, but the cheering of the hundreds of children is deafening. Alex turns out to be a real friend of the children, they follow him everywhere. After shaking hundreds of hands, we have to leave quite soon, that is at 22.00 o’clock.
Driver Soerjadi drives ‘like crazy’ on the way back to Probolinggo. We ride
over bouncy roads and we are being launched regularly. At 1.30 at night we
come home. After only three hours and a half, a record time as we picked up
one hour and a half. In the garden, a goat is bleating loudly, ready to be
slaughtered the next morning. With this prospect, we dive into our beds.
Wednesday 08-09-2006 In Bentar, a cultural festivity takes place, in scope of the 17th of August. It is organised by Parso, and our demo is scheduled. The suits still aren’t ready yet. According to Parso, it will be all right if we visit Surabaya on the way back to Jakarta. He will bring the suits to hotel Weta. The cultural festivity consists of many tents where food from several regions is offered. Besides, there are several performances on the stage, particularly with traditional dance. We will be the last to perform. In advance, our clothing draws a lot of attention. We have to wait for a long time. Fortunately Paatje’s family is also present, which makes the waiting more pleasant. Soeparni has put on his Sunday suit. Even the director of the factory, the host of the karaoke night is there. Finally, we’re on. The cousin by marriage was supposed to film. It turned out to be the worst movie we’ve ever had from a demo. The camera was shaking heavily because of his enthusiasm in such a way that one would get sick watching the video. But he’s forgiven. He mainly recorded the audience that was surprised that Europeans are able to practice Pencak Silat in such a traditional manner, whereas they abandoned it themselves. According to Suratno, they were embarrassed. After the demo, we are embraced by the audience. But we have to leave soon and are already walking towards the bus. Except for Alex, who couldn’t leave the stage, so we waited a little.
This would be the heaviest day as far as it concerns travelling: from Probolinggo to Jakarta via Surubaya.
Normally, it takes less than four hours to reach Surabaya. However, a
chemical factory exploded, so the road was covered with mud. It took us an
entire day to get to Surabaya. We quickly picked up the suits and had dinner
at McDonalds. Subsequently, we travelled to Jakarta during the night.
On Wednesday, we all go to the wayang museum, in three taxis. Here, we’ve been given an interesting guided tour by Hengky Liem, with whom Mickelle could get along well. Gijs has his picture taken together with his wayangan Gatot Kaca. Some of us then go to the National Museum. For some of us, however, this too boring. On Thursday, it’s the 17th of August, Independence Day. Even though a parade passes, it stays rather calm. Apparently, there wasn’t a ceremony at the Padepokan. Normally, Paatje always goes to The Hague on this day. Now he’s in Indonesia himself, it all went more or less passed him. Today, we have a meeting with bapak Azis, president of the PAMUR. He treats us to a dinner in a beautiful restaurant in the open air. It’s very pleasant and very tasty. Thereafter, Gijs and Mickelle joined Paatje to the house of bapak Rustadi Effendi, who is also known as ‘Tata’. Paatje regards bapak Tata as his own son, and his children as his grandchildren. In the evening, we pick up Neeltje, who had spent the entire day with her friend Yesi. We also celebrate the first birthday of Isadora, Yesi’s daughter. Paatje and Mickelle and of course Neeltje as well are very grateful to Yesi for the many nice things she arranged for us. On Friday, the entire club had dinner with an aunt of Taty Bovenlander. Yesi arranged this with Edith, Taty’s niece. Unfortunately, Paatje wasn’t able to join us, as he had things to arrange at the Padepokan. For us, however, the afternoon was unforgettable: welcomed with so much hospitality and joy by Taty’s family and ate so well. On Friday night, it’s time for Paatje’s highlight of the trip. Yesi arranged that he can join a broadcast of the television program “Going Country”. With a small group (Paatje, Yesi, her husband, her friend Merlis, Neeltje, Gijs, Anthony, and Mickelle) we go to the studio of Metro TV. We’re live on tv in Tantowi Yahya’s show, of which Paatje is a great fan. Unfortunately, Tantowi herself is the Netherlands at that time.
In the meantime, our friends are gathered around the television. We are
in the Independence broadcast: everybody is dressed in red and white.
Except for us, white members of the former occupation force, who are
wearing their normal clothes. We even have to enter the dance floor: the
party’s complete. The very next day, Anthony is being recognised down
the hallway of our hotel: “Hey, you.... dancing!”
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